I was running, but it was dark and I couldn't see where I was going. My legs were heavy, like they weighed a thousand pounds. I felt hot breath against the back of my neck and my skin prickled in fear. He was getting closer and closer and I couldn't get away. I felt a hand grasp my arm and I screamed.
"Izzy! Izzy!" I opened my eyes and saw Edward standing over me. He was like a bronze-haired angel appearing above me, his green eyes filled with worry.
"You were having a nightmare. It's just me." He said gently. I relaxed and my panicked heartbeat began to slow.
"Edward…" I said groggily. "How did you know I was here?"
"Rose." He explained. That damn Rose, I thought to myself. "She said that she got my number from your cell phone. She thought I would have wanted to know that you were in the hospital. I assume she knows about…"
I nodded. "I'm sorry. I know we agreed…"
"It doesn't matter, I'm glad she called me." He assured me.
"How long have you been here? God, I look a wreck." I muttered, feeling self-conscious. I absently fingered my limp locks.
"Izzy, you look fine. I've only been here a few minutes. I brought you these." He handed me a glass vase filled with yellow tulips.
"Thank you." I said, fingering the soft petals. "They are beautiful. Can you put them on the dresser, please?"
"Sure." He said, leaning over and placing them next to the flowers I'd received from my coworkers, while I maneuvered the bed so that I was sitting up. He sat down in the chair next to the bed.
"Can you talk about what happened? Rose didn't tell me anything except that you were in the hospital and that you were pretty banged up. I asked what happened and she was very cryptic."
"Edward…" I started and then I didn't say anything further. I just couldn't get the words out.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it." He soothed.
"No…I do." I took a deep breath and went on. "I went to a work function with Emmett a few weeks ago and an executive from his job, Aro, told me that he wanted to sleep with me and that if I slept with him then he would guarantee Emmett got the promotion. I said no and then he started stalking me, calling my job and sending me flowers…"
"He's the one that sent the flowers." Edward murmured, understanding.
"I told him that I believed in Emmett and that he would get the promotion on his own merit. And then he found a way to put Emmett on leave, which of course freaked Emmett out…"
"So that's what that was about…" he said, his expression tense.
"So the next time he called, I told him that I would do it." I told him, tears of shame pricking my eyes. "I didn't want Emmett to lose his promotion because of me."
"Oh Izzy…" he said. He grabbed my hand and stroked it soothingly.
"But I couldn't do it, Edward. I couldn't disrespect myself that way. So I told Emmett what was going on and he said I was lying, that there is no way that anyone would go through all of that just to fuck me, that he'd fucked me and it wasn't worth all of that."
His stroking stopped and his eyes darkened with anger. "That stupid motherfucker…"
"I broke up with him, Edward. After that I realized that he didn't care about me. At all."
"Good."
"So I thought that it was all over. If Aro retaliated against Emmett, I would be out of the equation. But I guess he knew where I lived and when I didn't give him what he wanted, he attacked me outside of my apartment when I went to take the trash to the dumpster."
"Jesus, Izzy." He stood up and began to pace. "I'm going to fucking kill Emmett. I mean, there's self-absorbed and then there's just…fuck, I don't even know what to say. Did you tell the police?"
I nodded. He sat down next to me on the bed and gently tilted my chin up to look at him.
"Are you okay?" He asked, barely audibly.
"He didn't… a guy from my building scared him away before he could…" I whispered.
"Thank God." He breathed. "Are you in a lot of pain?"
"They have me hooked up to an IV with pain meds. They said I can go home tomorrow."
He leaned over and kissed my forehead, his lips lingering a few seconds.
"Edward… are you really moving to North Carolina?" I asked in a small voice. He leaned back a bit and sighed.
"Izzy, I couldn't watch you and Emmett together…I knew that I would never stop wanting you and pursuing you. I've had a crush on you since the first time Emmett introduced me to the beautiful girl with the brilliant mind, but I didn't realize it. I didn't realize that every girl I met, I was comparing to you. I didn't realize that I was more excited to see you than I was to see Emmett at our weekly dinners. I didn't realize how much I liked your smile and your laugh and I didn't realize how important you'd become to me until the first time we kissed. Then it all made sense."
"I felt it, too." I admitted.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. And I think the feelings made the guilt worse because what I felt for you, even in a kiss, I'd never felt for Emmett."
"A friend from law school told me that they had an opening down in Charlotte at the firm he was with, so I interviewed and got the job." He explained.
"Oh." I said, looking down. I suppose a part of me had been hoping and praying that it wasn't true, but it was. Edward was starting a new life, hundreds of miles away from me.
"Izzy?" He prompted. I gazed up at him. "I don't want to go."
"I don't want you to go." I told him, a tear escaping my eye. I brushed it away.
"What do you want?" He asked, his beautiful eyes fixed on my own. I could think of a thousand reasons to be a martyr, but I stopped myself. Put yourself first for once, Isabella.
"I want to be with you."
~SD~
I was awakened again by hushed voices, but this time, Edward was one of them. I opened my eyes and Rose and Alice were sitting at the end of the bed next to my feet and Edward was sitting in the chair across from me. The police officer from yesterday was standing in front of the door. Everyone looked angry. I wanted to know what was going on, but I had a pressing need that demanded my immediate attention. I locked eyes with Alice and she picked up on my distress.
"Izzy's awake. Can you give us five minutes?" Alice said to the cop and to Edward. Edward kissed my cheek and then followed the officer into the hallway. I padded to the bathroom as quickly as I could, Alice on my heels.
"You know I have a lot of questions about why Emmett's brother was here when we got here at nine in the morning." She was saying. The door closed behind me but she kept talking as I relieved myself. Yes, Edward had spent the night in my hospital room. He'd slept in the chair; he didn't want to share the bed because of my broken arm.
Alice continued her rant. "Rose, on the other hand, didn't look confused about it at all. What the hell is going on, Izzy?"
"Alice, not right now, okay?" I heard Rose tell her. I flushed the toilet and washed my hands. I washed my face and brushed my teeth as well before exiting.
"What's going on?" I asked as I sat gingerly on the bed.
"We'll let Officer Uley tell you." Rose said. She leaned her head out of the door and Edward and Officer Uley came back into the room.
I looked at the cop and waited for him to start talking.
"Looks like you're feeling a little better, Miss Swan." He started.
"Izzy. Call me Izzy."
"Izzy." he repeated "We went to Volturi Corporation to bring Miklos in, but he'd never shown up for work. We went to his residence and it was vacated. We checked around and found out that he chartered a private jet out of Teterboro airport to the United Arab Emirates early Sunday morning."
"So, what does that mean?" I asked, my voice shrill.
"It means they can't arrest him." Edward told me, his face betraying his fury.
"We found a folder in his home office…he had an entire dossier devoted to you. Pictures, your work address, your boss's name, your resume, your home address, your phone numbers…he was…is…obsessed with you. You definitely can't go back to your apartment." Officer Uley cautioned.
"You can stay with me." Alice and Rose said at the same time.
"Izzy, I would really like it if you stayed with me. My building has a security guard and I have a home office that you can work out of until this fucker is caught." Edward piped in. Alice's eyes went huge and Rose was trying to hide a smile.
"A building with a security guard is your best bet. I don't know what kind of resources Miklos has and it's better to be safe than sorry." Officer Uley offered.
"You're sure you're okay with me staying with you?" I asked Edward. He nodded.
"So what's the plan? He's overseas. What do we do in the meantime?" I asked the officer.
"We wait until he makes a mistake. And you watch your ass."